Exalted General - /exg/

>What is Exalted?
An epic high-flying role-playing game about reborn god-heroes in a world that turned on them.
Start here: theonyxpath.com/category/worlds/exalted/

>That sounds cool, how can I get into it?
Read the 3e core book (link below). For the basics of combat, read this tutorial. It'll get you familiar with most of the mechanics.
forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?769761-Exalted-3E-Combat-301.

>How do I find a group?
Roll20 and the Game Finder General here on Veeky Forums. With the new edition, though, chances are more games will crop up.

Resources for Third Edition:

>Final 3E Core Release:
mega.nz/#!ctgxyJaC!ygkrLnFsrnBJzIUZY-dJsMfyFrhFQgDsQuuo52fcW0I
mediafire.com/download/q51qw8skdw1rg15/Exalted_3e_Core.pdf
>Backer Charm Book:
mediafire.com/download/x7i7p5c4rm7kacq/Backer_Charms_Plain_Text.pdf

>Frequently updated Character Sheet with Formulas and Autofill
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pfjmZKzcUqAX9mB58IAEUIFkZr8rq4CvdRRM4kzwwgU/edit?usp=sharing
>General Homebrew dumping folder:
drive.google.com/folderview?id=0ByD2BL6J89NiQzdCWWFaY0c5Mkk&usp=sharing
>Collection of old 3e Materials, including comics and fiction anthologies:
mediafire.com/folder/t2arqtqtyyt28/Exalted_3Leak
>Charm Trees:
Solar Charms: imgur.com/a/q6Vbc
Martial Arts: imgur.com/a/mnQDe
Evocations: imgur.com/a/TYKE4

>Resources for Previous Editions:
pastebin.com/raw/EL3RTeB1

Would you run a grimdark campaign in Exalted? The world is already kinda hellish
>filled with enemies like a dungeon in Diablo
>tyrannical theocracy in charge of things
>Heroes have unlimited potential to be villains and because of this both are ruthlessly hunted down

>Heroes have unlimited potential to be villains
Yeah, about that, how much is this getting edition changed? I have the vague impression that it was supposed to be true in 2e as a social commentary on how Power Does Not Equal Goodness, but in 3e they shifted towards the Exaltation picking good people, not just skilled people. But I don't have any specific quotes I can point to.

Reposting from last thread:

I'll be starting a game 3E soon and I need some input. I'm keeping things simple and gave my Zenith character the motivation to restore the cult of the Unconquered Sun. Now, while the GM has admitted he's going to play a bit loose with the setting overall, the UCS will remain as he was in canon. So what exactly would a cult of the UCS be like, or at the very least some religious philosophy (think Buddhism) where Sol Invictus is at the center? I was thinking some 'way of life'-style mentality where individuals are expected to live as virtuously and heroically as possible and basing things off the four Virtues of previous editions (as I recall UCS had max virtues).

Is that too simple/generic or does it work just fine?

>but in 3e they shifted towards the Exaltation picking good people

Yeah, nah, not a thing.

The "righteousness" of the Solar Exalted gets mentioned in the text, just like it always is, but they still have a Charm that makes "I dislike them" a sin worth of burning and torturing someone, sooo.

Indeed, I think the book doesn't make such a good job at impressing, that Solars aren't Paladins and UCS isn't... whoever is the typical big good god in a generic fantasy setting. And even if he was, a particular Solar may not give a damn about Sol Invictus.

On the other hand, I think, I may be going a little bit overboard in other direction when I'm writing characters or GM'ing. My Bull of the North so far displayed some of the worst traits of a conquering warlord, for sure - if allowed to continue with his expansion, he would become the equivalent of Genghis Khan, but with much less redeeming features.
Still, I'll try to moderate myself.

Very curioys about this too. Tenetively have my own Zenith with intimacies reflecting the four virtues.

The UCS is the god of righteousness and awesomeness. A cult of the UCS would literally be pic related.

So, Veeky Forums is a Sol Invictus cult?

He is also occasionally wrathful, arrogant and had a fondness for blood sacrifices. And Righteousness and Virtues are subjective. His focus on personal excellence and self-defining of virtue also makes him something of an Ubermensch.

Question is, would the flock seek to emulate him, or, as is more likely, slavishly extol his Kingship of the Cosmos?

What's funny is reading the criteria that the *Lunar* exaltation looks for in a cynical light. Solar one picks Big Names, heroes as villains, but the Lunar Exaltation picks people who
>are persistent
>are stubborn
>reject attempts to control them
>prize individuality and personal strength
Now consider that if these are read in a social rather than physical context, you've basically listed the traits of THAT GUY who won't shut the fuck up, argues every point for an hour, can't take "no" for an answer when hitting on people, insists on bringing his spirit animal dragon dildo to the table.

And now THAT GUY has just gotten shapeshifting powers, woo.

Yeah but Luna also prizes survival in her chosen and I doubt petulant man-children would have a high survival rate in creation

OTOH, shi also favors outcasts, loners and rejects, and those don't tend to have such a high survival rate either. Creation is full of horrible monsters that do horrible things to solo mortals, after all.

She favors outcasts, loners and rejects who are *also* survivors.

So, petulant man-children who are also survivors, then?

By that logic it'd mostly be /k/ommandos.

Now you get the point.
(I recall a thread that d?evolved into discussion about Knot, so beast shape is also kinda fitting)

>Daji's greatest joy was to hear people cry in physical torment. Once, she saw a farmer walking barefoot on ice and ordered his feet cut off so she could study them and figure out why they were so resistant to low temperatures. On another occasion, she had a pregnant woman's belly cut open so it satisfied her curiosity to find out what happened inside. To verify an ancient saying that "a good man's heart has seven apertures", she even had the heart of the minister Bi Gan (King Zhou's uncle) dug out and subjected to her futile scrutiny.

So, first age Twilight, or first age Twilight?

First age formerly-Twilight-now-Daybreak.

Typically, I'd say just your average Twilight.
Although, reading on her, she sound more like Zenith or Eclipse - or, if she was "possessed by vixen" - a Lunar. Maybe seeking to destabilize a kingdom or a satrapy.

I had a Zenith in my Circle whose Defining Principle was literally teaching people to be excellent to each other.

Honestly I would ake her a Zenith with Lore, Presence, Performance and Integrity as Caste Abilities and she would have Performance as her Supernal (there probably aren't many better examples of someone with Thousand Courtesan Ways and Celestial Bliss Trick).

Who is Medium Armor even for? Heavy Armor is cool if you don't want to Dodge or whatever. Light Armor is useful if you do. But Medium Armor seems to occupy a shitty middle space. I guess if you're a Single Point stylist who uses Parry or that Charm that lets you wear medium armor without penalty or something like that it might be useful?

Basically Martial Artists who want more protection than what's afforded by heavy armour.

Medium armor is for people who aren't using Dodge as a primary defense (and thus don't need it to be as high as possible) but still care about combat mobility (and thus can stand to eat the -1 die, which is about the upper limit of a penalty you can have before opposed rolls start seriously swinging against you).

In other words, for a wide range of fighters.

Not really. That's not what Exalted is for. Hell, just about every other Storyteller system suits that purpose to one degree or another.

/exg/ can you help me work out the uses for the higher end Stealth charms and less-used stuff?
Why would I need Stalking Wolf Attitude?
Smoke and Shadow Cover doesn't seem useful.
Shadow-Crossing Leap Technique seems to expensive for what seems like a minor effect.
False Image Feint just seems unlikely based on that roll requirement.
Flashing Nocturne Prana also seems too niche and expensive, when would I really want to pay 10m 1wp for that?
I'd appreciate you guys clearing things up for me.

>Why would I need Stalking Wolf Attitude?
Fucking shitloads of free initiative without having to break stealth.

>Smoke and Shadow Cover doesn't seem useful.
anywhere from +2 to +3 DV for 3m doesn't seem useful to you?

>Shadow-Crossing Leap Technique seems to expensive for what seems like a minor effect.
The E4 effect makes it completely retarded, but the basic effect is an excellent way of defeating the "fire and grenades" method of defeating Stealth checks

>False Image Feint just seems unlikely based on that roll requirement.
It's for use against mega-attacks, ones that roll 20+ initiative damage, to give you a final chance to dodge it. Against a Shining Point practitioner you'd never question your purchase.

>Flashing Nocturne Prana also seems too niche and expensive, when would I really want to pay 10m 1wp for that?
2 rounds of automatically-successful stealth no matter what you do plus a teleport that puts you way out of range to be pursued? Can't imagine why that would be useful.

So, what kind of criminal shit do gods get up to in Yu-Shan, asides from maybe selling memories of playing the Games of Divinity?

>Fucking shitloads of free initiative without having to break stealth.
I would have to spend several rounds solo with the rest of the group sitting around twiddling their thumbs though, right?

>anywhere from +2 to +3 DV for 3m doesn't seem useful to you?
If I'm going to be stealthed and concealed, DV will only come up for AOE attacks though.

>The E4 effect makes it completely retarded, but the basic effect is an excellent way of defeating the "fire and grenades" method of defeating Stealth checks
Okay I understand its useful to move from cover to cover, but the base version seems to expensive to be used regularly.

>It's for use against mega-attacks, ones that roll 20+ initiative damage, to give you a final chance to dodge it. Against a Shining Point practitioner you'd never question your purchase.
You'd need at least a 10 dice attack pool with 20 dice damage pool to have average chance of hitting those six 1s or 2s, and then there's the rest of the charm, it just seems overly complicated to me.

>2 rounds of automatically-successful stealth no matter what you do plus a teleport that puts you way out of range to be pursued? Can't imagine why that would be useful.
If you're this heavily invested in Stealth, those 2 rounds aren't that much better than your normal rolls, and the teleportation requires pre-emptively picking a safe spot and then committing 10m for the fight until you want to run and hide. Maybe I'm just picturing spaces that would be too restrictive for you to get 3 range bands away and safe from the kind of opponents you would be facing at this level.

In general, these just seem less efficient and useful to spend your charm xp on and all those motes and willpower, than the standard stealth set.
I feel like I should grab most of the other stealth charms for supernal and skip these for other abilities instead.
Any of these you think would be a must have over the other stealth charms?

>You'd need at least a 10 dice attack pool with 20 dice damage pool to have average chance of hitting those six 1s or 2s, and then there's the rest of the charm, it just seems overly complicated to me.

Its a dodge that forces the attacker to reset to base initiative, if they attack you with like 30i, they reset back to base. That is huge.

Actually, on re-reading False Image Feint, I realise you don't pay for the charm until after the attack definitely has those six 1s or 2s. So you just have to pay it, win a regular stealth roll to dodge it, and if you get a 10, their attack is used up and it resets them, paying you back the wp cost. Okay that does seem more reasonable if I'm targetted with powerful strike and my stealth, dodge, and other defences have failed me.

>I would have to spend several rounds solo with the rest of the group sitting around twiddling their thumbs though, right?
No? You use SWA while stealthed and wander around the battle field before popping out to gib somebody bothering your pals.

>I would have to spend several rounds solo with the rest of the group sitting around twiddling their thumbs though, right?
No?

>If you're this heavily invested in Stealth, those 2 rounds aren't that much better than your normal rolls,
Uh, no. Perfect success kicks the shit out of 10 dice, which is the most you would be getting for free.

If my allies aren't in the battle, they're bored at the table, if they're in the battle, it won't last long enough for me to be of particular use sneaking around to build up that initiative.

I normally run with 14 dice from belt and specialty, very few antagonists have a pool likely to beat that unless they're a boss or specifically built for awareness. In other cases, the 2 rounds don't really wow me.

>If my allies aren't in the battle, they're bored at the table, if they're in the battle, it won't last long enough for me to be of particular use sneaking around to build up that initiative.
If the battle doesn't last four rounds you won't be getting much use out of a lot of Charms, not just SWA.

You'd require a 45 dice pool from attack and damage to be sure to get 6 ones or twos 90% of the time, 30d only gives it 57% of the time, and that's from the higher end of non-ultra attacks. If you're trusting FIF to save you from those, it's an incredible risk of instant death.
Also it causes a weird incentive to attract the biggest attacks on yourself, baiting them into spending all their motes on the attack pool and unleash a massive initiative pool, without wasting your motes on defence. Seems dangerous for not otherwise tanky builds.

Combine it with Unbowed Willow Meditation for maximum risk/reward. Use the methods to boost your Evasion as far as you can and not cancel Unbowed Willow, they'll probably have boosted their attack pool pretty high if they have a really high Initiative attack so that's more chance of 1s and 2s. If they roll bad and miss, they crash and you get it all.

If they hit, False Image Feint that shit and get out of there anyway. Resetting them to base anyway.

High risk high reward

That's a pretty expensive and powerful high-tier combo, they do work well together as backups for the risk.

I definitely see the risk and reward, I just think it sticks out as different than the rest of the tree, and a lot of stealthy characters prefer dodge or even parry to having a high-post hit damage nullification or ox bodies to eat it up. If they start acting like a tank with FIF, they might pay for it if the rest of their build doesn't save them like a tank does.

Excellent Strike and similar no-1s effects would make False Image Feint even harder.

What're the most important investments for a scout, an infiltrator spy getting behind enemy lines to eavesdrop or steal documents (not a james bond spy)?
Stealth, Larceny, Athletics, Awareness, Investigation?

Don't forget Socialize to defend against Read Motive.

2s still count up and Excellent Strike doesn't apply to the damage roll. It's most useful and most applicable on high Initiative attacks.

Yeah, it doesn't entirely negate it, but the 10-20 ish dice attack roll was a solid contributor to the 1s and 2s, that basic melee charm halves that aspect of the pool. Requiring an even higher initiative pool for reliable activation chances.

Not as necessary if you're never seen, but I do have decent guile. Any other major focuses I'm missing for these tasks?

I haven't so much as touched Exalted since 3e came out. I feel like playing it again. A shame I live in Bumfuck, Nowhere, with no gaming groups around.

>You'd require a 45 dice pool from attack and damage to be sure to get 6 ones or twos 90% of the time, 30d only gives it 57% of the time, and that's from the higher end of non-ultra attacks. If you're trusting FIF to save you from those, it's an incredible risk of instant death.
>Also it causes a weird incentive to attract the biggest attacks on yourself, baiting them into spending all their motes on the attack pool and unleash a massive initiative pool, without wasting your motes on defence. Seems dangerous for not otherwise tanky builds.
Add Uncanny Shroud Defense for the worst case.

As far as I can tell that idea is pretty much confined to a story in the book about a local harvest god picking a maiden of his clergy who wasn't the best fighter but he thought was a virtuous person, since he wanted to leave a good legacy.

Online games.

Almost always are shitty and filled with flakes if they ever get off the ground to begin with.

Between that and bitching online about how you'll never find a game?

I have three online groups with solid players. You'll find them, keep looking.

>Between that and bitching online about how you'll never find a game?

Oh, I wouldn't bitch about it. It's just a game, not important enough to bitch.

Do you need Stormwind Rider as your Control spell to access the abilities that require essence?

>In addition, characters with an Essence pool gain access
to the following powers while this spell is active

No, just to have an Essence pool.

So Stormwind Rider doesn't have a control effect other than the windy thing?

JOLLY COOPERATION?

>/k/ommandos.
>Mole Totem unnagrounder.
Love it.

>Be innawyld
>Finish expanding the fortifications on my like-minded freedom-loving beastman compound
>Raid caravan filled with firedust
>Realm can come take our firewands from our cold dead paws

If you're in combat, and then enter stealth, can you gather sorcerous motes without being noticed?

Other than the windy jump boost thing (which should be houseruled to appl all the time instead of Stamina/day and maybe let them throw wind spirals to knock people back), no.

Glorious.

/k/ would have a Bad Dragon Sigh Wand version of Beloved Adorei.

Is that the exalted version of a Moist Nugget?

Use your dick to quell your talking wifle while ramrodding the firedust in.

I propose that the mental image involved in this post be declared a crime against humanity.
If a moist nugget were also a clingy girlfriend and a furry dildo, sort of.

I understand now.

>wifle

Can't believe I haven't heard this before.

Is it a thing? I just made it up on the spot, but I can totally believe /k/ already did it.

ALL SHALL COWER BEFORE THE DARK SUN

TOO YOUR KNEES LIGHT DWELLERS

Is there anything like a bag of holding printed for 3e yet? I've got a character looking to carry around quite the load of stuff, and a mule would be conspicuous.

You could always have an artifact that lets you store things Elsewhere. There were plenty of those in previous editions.

> You could always have an artifact that lets you store things Elsewhere.
Isn't that pretty much what a bag of holding is?
> There were plenty of those in previous editions.
I know. But is there anything official for 3e yet, or am I going to have to ask my ST about converting a cache egg?

Technically, any time a god interferes with mortals directly, such as demanding worship in exchange for favors and benefits to their worshippers, is a celestial offense. The *intended* relationship between mortals and gods is that the gods stay in the background, don't reveal themselves to mortals, and just work to uphold the cosmos rather than meddle with humanity on an individual level.

Naturally, this is one of the things that is routinely violated, and is also the reason why the Immaculate Calendar is a thing: because it's the closest one can get to the intended relationship between humans and gods.

Of course, that's not to say that the other extreme is all that good an idea either. In Autochthonia, Autochthon was very careful in making sure that the abuses that happened in Yu-Shan would not happen with his own sub-souls, sub-sub-souls, and so on. But while this prevented favor trading, it also meant that Autochthon's souls have zero investment in humanity and most of them would neither know or care if all the mortals inside Autochthon went extinct.

>But is there anything official for 3e yet

Not yet.

For a traveller, scout, and spy, which control spell is best suited; Cirrus Skiff, Infallible Messenger, or Stormwind Rider?

Any good spell conversions or homebrew?

Check the homebrew folder. Some of those might even be decent.

Cirrus Skiff.

I checked the folder, doesn't seem to have any spells.

I think /k/ use Raifu because it's more weebish.

Can confirm, here is sample thread currently on /k/

And for something topical, how do your Solars deal with less-than-benevolent Lunar friends?

Bump

Heya Storytellers, tell me about what small kingdoms and cities you fill empty spaces on the map with

Small kingdoms and cities that enable my fetishes.

That goes without saying. I need DETAILS

>implying I have games

I have been thinking about an island kingdom, though, the biggest player in their little part of the Creation, and far enough away from bigger nations that they haven't really had to realize how small and meaningless they are on the Creation's scale. A kingdom with huge ego, so to speak, with really flowery and pompous titles for its officials. Would probably work best ina Dragon-Blooded game where the Realm starts to extend its reach towards the kingdom's sphere of influence.

Another palce I'ce been thinking about is a tehocracy of sorts, where a local god is the central figure of both worship and politics. He's not so interested in actually directly ruling, though, unstead delegating that stuff to one of his children, born from his mortal concubines. That child rules as the priest-kingor priestess-queen until he/she dies and is replaced by the one of his/her siblings who happens to be in their father's favor at the moment. There is some discontent with this system, some from the other, less favred children of the god, but more from the children of the current priest-king, who have grown up close to power they will never wield.

OVER 9000 SECONDS IN PAINT WERE SPENT ON THIS MAP. It's my mini-heartbreaker elaboration on a stretch of the Grey River, originally made for a 2e game. Originally modified from two largely featureless tiles of map near the Nameless Lair. (Area is still featureless in 3e, but they moved the Nameless Lair closer and added a red splotch around.)

Both sound quite nice. Good luck finding a game, brother.
Wow.

/exg/, my circle is currently having a bit of a debate over Heart-Eclipsing Shroud and Hundred-Face Stranger. Specifically, in HFS it says that, "Where the persona shares Abilities with the Solar, it automatically knows Charms the Solar already knows." (pg 401). The problem is thus: does this mean that if the persona has a single dot in, say, Melee, while the original Solar has 5 in Melee and some charms that require Melee 5 to learn, that the persona now knows and can use those Melee 5 charms? Or does the persona have to match the Solar in dots in order to know and use the higher ability charms?

The sticking point is that you have to use Heart-Eclipsing Shroud again to exit the persona. So do all personas have to have Socialize 5, or do they just need Socialize 1? Or is HES an exception in that all personas know and can use it regardless of their Socialize dots?

I would say they know the charm, but cannot use it. They lack the skill, finesse, and 'muscle memory' to use the charm properly. It would essentially just fizzle out, because while they could be aware of it, their new persona acts as another person whose body doesn't know how to weave essence in that way.

Lessee.
Hundred-Faced Stranger:
> Where the persona shares Abilities with the Solar, it automatically knows Charms the Solar already knows.
Unclear. On the one hand, one might say that if they meant needing Melee 5 for the persona to have cool Melee charms, they would have used the phrase "qualifies for" that appears in various places like the Lore training charms, on the other hand, wording elsewhere suggests that if the persona has Melee 1 it can't use them regardless of whether it "knows" them. I'd put this one down to White Wolf Editing and get your ST to rule on it until Mongden can be persuaded to issue errata.

Heart-Eclipsing Shroud:
> Motes spent activating this effect are not committed: reverting to her true Intimacies or changing to another persona requires that she use the Charm again.
Here, OTOH, I'd say the RAW is clear that personas need Socialize to have that charm so that the Solar isn't "stuck", and the sanity check is equally clear that that's fucking bullshit, you shouldn't get stuck by pretending to be someone less mannerly.

does yozi-body unity allow you to ignore material things?

Would Doctor Doom be an Infernal?

Doctor Doom is a Heroic Mortal Sorcerer.

No, that's just copy created by his Adjoran Shintai.

Doombots are mechanical, ergo he would be a Solar with that one charm.

Making him a Twilight Craftsnerd would also explain where he gets all his gadgets.

Can Twilights make use of Presence?
>"RICHAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRDDDDDSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!"

Any can if they favour it. Twilights have Linguistics as a caste ability, so our Twilight might only send mean spirited letters.

Eh, a Mortal Sorcerer could do similar things with Workings.